1.3 Drifting Continents



Vocabulary


Pangaea: Means "all lands," a super continent the existed 300 million years ago.
Continental Drift: Continents slowly moved over earth's surface, Wegener's idea.
Fossil: Any trace of an ancient organism that has been preserved in rock.

Outline


Summary


    • Africa and South America look like they fit

The theory of Continental Drift


    • 1910/ Wegener
    • hypothesis of single landmass/pangea
    • supported ideas wih the study of landforms, fossils, and climate
  • evidence from landforms
    • used mountains from Africa and South America
  • evidence from fossils
    • coal fields, common fossils found on distant continents
  • evidence from climate
    • continents have very different climates from millions of years ago

Scientists Reject Wegener's Theory


  • couldn't prove how continents drifted